I Want to Fly High
by Tatsurou-san
Summary: Tails has always wondered where he originally came from, and what his place in the world was. Now, a new discovery will show him that the answers are closer than he thinks...and further than he knows.
1. Chapter 1

1. The Discovery

After tightening a few last bolts in the machine, Cream pushed herself out from under the lift with a sigh. Getting up and stretching, she walked over to set her tools down, pausing long enough to get a quick glance at herself in the mirror. Her white shirt and blue overalls were grease spotted, as was the fur on face and arms. Rolling her eyes, she brushed at the spots, making a mental note to wash it out before it got too sticky.

Who would have thought this would be the result of that fateful meeting ten years ago? After being kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, she had been rescued by Sonic and the others, and now, here she was. At 16, she had grown quite well. She had obviously inherited good genetics from her mother. She'd taken to working and living here - at Tails' lab/mech shop - for the past three years, much to her mother's surprise, and that of most of her friends.

Things had changed over time for everyone, she had to admit. Rouge and Knuckles lived together on Angel Island now - married, Cream assumed - and everything seemed to be blissful tranquility for the two of them. Although Sonic still raced around the world like always, he stopped off more often to see Amy...or Dr. Rose, as Cream should be calling her.

Several years back, Amy had gone into medicine, saying that since Sonic often came back from various adventures bruised and battered, being trained in medicine would give her an opportunity to be close to him, and show that he could rely on her. Before too long, though, she had discovered a real talent - and passion - for the field, and had studied hard to be one of the yougest at her college to get her MD. This new maturity and nurturing side of Amy had caught Sonic's eye, and he had taken to spending some time pursuing her. In quite a twist, now it was Amy who never seemed to have time for Sonic, given her busy medical practice. The few times they were able to meet up for dates, they frequently laughed about this.

As for Shadow...last Cream had heard, he was dating her Mom! Cream still found that amusing. She'd always known Mom had a thing for older men, but really! Still, Shadow had mellowed considerably over time, and was actually quite fun to be around nowadays. Cream felt it might be nice, someday, if she were to call him 'Daddy.'

And then there was Tails...Cream's thoughts grew troubled as she thought about him. Things had been...complicated, recently, for Tails. With few world threatening events nowadays, he had taken time to try and find out where he had come from. Last week, he had headed out with Sonic, having finally tracked down the orphanage where Sonic had found him.

The sound of a VTOL engine filled the air, and Cream smiled. Heading out to the hanger, she saw Tails latest plane, 'The Whirlwind,' touch down gently, a large cylindrical metal shape in the cargo hook. Tails hopped out of the plane as soon as the engine stopped, looking very unhappy. His overalls were as grease spotted as ever, and his green eyes flashed as he glared at the cargo he'd brought back.

Cream came over with a smile. "Hey Tails! What did you find?"

Tails walked up to the cylinder. "A useless hunk of junk!" he snapped, kicking it. His metal boots clanged against it, sending a hollow echo through it. "I go look for my origins, and all I find is this useless piece of-" Tails began to curse in no less than three languages, two of them dead. Continuing to curse, he walked over to a table and sent all its surface contents - some tools, a few dishes, and some designs - cascading to the floor with a single swipe of his hands before slamming his clenched fists onto the table, snarling.

Cream went up to Tails and hugged him from behind. "Tails...it can't be as bad as all that, can it? Surely it must give you some information?"

Tails sighed. "Come on." He walked over and disconnected the pod from the cargo hook. It dropped to the floor with a clang. "What do you see?"

Cream examined the upper surface. She could tell right off the bat that it was an escape pod of some sort, with writting on it. "Here," she said, pointing at the first line of writing. "This is hand written, someone personalizing the pod. It pretty plainly says 'Miles.'" She pointed to the next line. "But this line here is etched in, probably during manufacture. It looks like it says 'Prower,' but none of the lines of the letters connect. Given what we've seen of alien writting, I'd guess this is some sort of numeric system, probably the pods serial number."

"Exactly," Tails said, glaring at the pod. "And this is the pod I arrived at the orphanage in...16 years ago. This writing is how they named me Miles Prower...and the pod fell from the sky." Tails sat down in a nearby chair. "All this time trying to find out who I am and where I came from...and I know less than ever! I'm not even Mobian! My family name isn't Prower! My name might not even be Miles! I mean, who's to say that's even my pod?"

"This, for one," Cream said comfortingly, pointing to a logo. Emblazoned on the side of the pod was a symbol obviously representing a stylized fox. However, someone had added a second tail to the image, in the same way 'Miles' had been written on the pod. "This is your pod for sure, Tails. And wherever you came from, this is the clue to help find your way back...and learn what you can of your origins."

Tails smirked mirthlessly. "And if it could maintain the exterior decorations through whatever happened before reaching Mobius, reentry, and 16 years sitting around in the elements...why couldn't it preserve so much as a single computer component?!" Tails shook his head. "It makes no sense."

"Unless the computer components weren't designed to remain intact," Cream spoke up. "Maybe it's like the movies, and the computer components were designed to break down to prevent the tech from falling into the wrong hands." Cream came over and sat half in Tails lap, wrapping her arms around him again. "Look on the bright side, Tails. This has always been a mystery you've longed to unravel. Rather than frustration at how perplexing it is, look at this as your first real clue. You know where to look now, more or less. We just have to figure out how to look."

Tails sighed. With a genuine smile, he returned her embrace. "Thanks, Cream."

Cream smiled. "Anything for you, Tails."

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A few hours later, under the moonlight, Cream sat up from bed and gazed down on Tails. Sighing, the unwelcome thoughts once more returned to her mind. Trying to push them from her mind, she gazed on his face. Unfortunately, this brought forth unwelcome recollections, as she saw the nick cut out of his left earflap, and the scar across his left shoulder was more visible when he was immoble.

A new discovery. That's what she had called finding the pod. Another clue. But...every time a new discovery was made, some new threat arose because of it. The old records discovered of the Echidna civilization had led to Chaos beng unleashed. The discovery of the old Temples of Gaia had led to the Dark Gaia debacle. And so on, and so on. New discoveries always meant new threats. What would this one bring?

The last one had been three years ago, before she'd moved in with Tails. Eggman had discovered something - no one ever found out what - and he had announced that it would enable him to create his Eggman Empire. He had challenged Sonic and the others to try and stop him. Of course, they went to take up the challenge.

It had been Cream who had found Eggman's mutilated corpse. Her scream had brought everyone running, and once the others were there she had instinctively turned into Tails' embrace for comfort. After a time of investigations, they had no clues as to the nature of the threat, only a cryptic message from Eggman to Sonic. Apparently, Eggman had overestimated his ability to control what he had unleashed, and he had tried to fight it. He laid the burden on Sonic to once more save Mobius, from the demon he had unleashed.

It had been the hardest fight any of them had ever encountered. The creature - whatever it was - seemed to be conmposed solely of hunger, devouring everything it encountered. The Chaotix were the first to fall, slain and consumed by the beast. Sonic had nearly lost one of his legs, and Tails had lost his left arm...although Amy's medical skill and Tails' medi-nanobots had been able to reattatch it. What had frightened Cream the most that day, though...the strike took the knick out of Tails ear flap and his arm at the shoulder joint...but it had been aimed at his neck, and had only just barely missed taking his head off.

The creature had also consumed Cosmo's flower. It had been the one seed found after Cosmo's death in the final battle with the Mettarex, and Tails had been tending to it almost religiously. Cream thought he expected it to grow into a Seedarian...either Cosmo reborn, or her child, but some way for him to reconnect to his first love he had lost.

When the flower had been consumed, Tails had lost it. It had long been known that Tails had some ability to tap into the Chaos Emeralds like Sonic did, even able to go Super. But when he saw the flower consumed, his eyes had glowed white, and a dark chaos miasma had surrounded him, turning his fur the color of burnt toast. Much like Sonic had during the battle with the Mettarex once long ago...Tails had gone Dark Super. Even with only one arm, Tails tore the creature to shreds.

Everyone had been nervous around Tails since then...everyone except Cream, that is. The power he had wielded hadn't frightened her. WHat had frightened her was the thought that she might lose him to it. When he came back to himself, he had become very withdrawn. After getting his arm reattatched, he had gone home to his lab, giving no indication of ever leaving again.

Cream had gone to him the following day, desperate not to lose him. That night, they lay together for the first time. Cream had learned things about Tails that night that had surprised her, although in a pleasant way. Apparently, his tails weren't the only duplications anomoly in his anatomy, nor the only place where he had unusually adept muscle control.

Cream had moved in the following day, telling her Mom that Tails needed someone with him so that he could recover from what had happened, and that she would do anything to not lose him. Her Mom had smiled knowingly, and given Cream her blessing...as well as birth control pills, a box of condoms, and some rather blunt advice regarding things Cream really didn't want to think about her Mom knowing about so intimately. Also an injunction on marraige before children, which had left Cream burning with embarrasment.

She had lived with Tails ever since, and although she was very happy...some nights, unwelcome thoughts assailed her, and she wished she did not have to confront them. While Tails had never rejected any of her advances and always welcomed physical intimacy...he never actively sought it out. She was a part of his world, his daily life, but she couldn't shake the feeling - especially late at night - that he would barely notice if she left. She knew she loved him...but did he really love her? Or...had she just made herself...convenient? 


	2. The Frustrations

2. The Frustrations

Sonic raced along the beach, quietly reminiscing. "It's been a long time since I just ran like this...no worries..." He sighed to himself. "I've missed it. Good to be able to just kick back and be free." He began to slow down. "Then again...maybe there's a reason for that." Seeing a nearby bench, he sat down, to give his thoughts time to take shape. There was a worry, somewhere in his mind. There almost always was, which is why he often ran the way he did. At high speeds, he didn't have to think, just react. But it was time, finally, to confront his worries. It was time to grow up.

It had been a long time coming, but after more than ten years of adventures, it was getting to be time to settle down and relax. As much as he hated to admit it, it was getting harder to mantain velocity these days. He was sure he was too young to slow down, but...maybe he should, anyway.

He knew Knuckles and Rouge were happy together. And things were certainly going well between him and Amy. "Never would have seen that coming ten years ago," he mumbled to himself. Even Shadow was looking to settle down from what he heard. Everything was moving towards calm and peace, what with the end of all villain activity three years back...

Thinking about that, he finally realized the focus of his worry. "I'm worried about Tails," he at last realized. "He just locked himself up after going Dark Super. It was a lot for him. First he lost his last link to Cosmo...then he calls forth a power that had us all scared...and then we act scared of him when he comes out of it, even though he used it to save all our bacons. We messed up. We messed up bad." He got to his feet. "I know Amy said I should give him some space, but it's been three years. That's too long. He's my friend, my best buddy. I'm gonna go check on him." With that he turned to take off...but stopped when he noticed something. "Say...that's Tails old lab from when we were teaching Emerl. It's where he built his holo simulator. ...why's it active? No one's used it since Emerl shut down." He dashed over to investigate.

Inside, he was surprised to find that Tails was using the simulator room. "Huh...wonder what he's up to." Sonic went to the control room...and was surprised to find it empty. "Huh! And after all the gruff he used to give me about having supervision in case something went wrong..." He glanced up at the screen...and his face paled.

Tails was fighting a simulation of the demon from three years ago...and the safeties were off! Tails could get killed! Sonic quickly shut down the simulation and dashed in.

Tails turned as Sonic entered. "What did you do that for?" he demanded angrily.

"Are you crazy, Tails? That thing nearly killed all of us three years ago! With the safeties off, it could really kill you!"

"So what?!" Tails demanded, his voice full of anger. "When has anyone bothered to check in on me? When was the last time anyone cared about me? How long would it be before anyone even noticed I was gone?!"

"That's going too far, Tails!" Sonic snapped, also getting angry. "We've kept away to give you your space! Didn't you know at least one of us stops by the lab to check on you every week? Right at first it was everyday, but we never said anything because we were worried about you! And even if not the rest of us, Cream would-"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER!" Tails snapped, lunging for Sonic.

Sonic tried to evade, to continue the conversation, but Tails had gotten a lot better at hand to hand. He was pushing Sonic to his limits, even without his arm cannon, which he rarely used anymore. As Sonic barely dodged one strike against a wall, he was surprised to see Tails' fist leave a serious dent. "Fine then," he muttered. "If it's gotta be this way..." He lunged in, delivering a quick flip kick to Tails' jaw. He began to fight back in earnest.

It was a pretty even fight. Although Sonic was too fast to get hit, Tails had gotten better at using his tails in a fight, so it was no longer safe to strike him from behind. Eventually, though, after several rapid exchanges of blows, Tails began to tire, and Sonic pressed his advantage. At long last, he had Tails pinned. "Alright Tails," Sonic said, breathing hard. "Talk! What the hell's wrong with you?"

Tails wouldn't meet his eyes. He just looked away, breathing heavily.

"What?" Sonic asked. "Did Cream break up with you or something?"

"... ... ...no..."

Sonic sat back. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"...she should."

Sonic was taken aback. "Tails? What are you talking about?"

Tails sat up, sighing. "Sonic...you know what I brought back from the orphanage, right?"

Sonic nodded. "What about it?"

"That's pretty much proof positive I'm not Mobian."

"So what?"

"...Cream and I ran out of birth control last year...and we never got more."

Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know if this is something I should be hearing..."

"It was her decision not to get more...and I went along with it." He shook his head. "Sonic, she's been in heat several times since then, and we've been intimate numerous more. She should be pregnant by now...but she's not."

Sonic blinked a bit. "I'm totally lost."

"Sonic..." Tails put his head in his hands. "Cream obviously wants to start a family with me...wants us to have children together...wants to have a baby of her own. I mean, she is a rabbit, and is genetically predisposed to have an easy time of it...but if she isn't pregnant by now...it means we aren't compatible species."

Sonic paused. "Oh...Tails..."

Tails began to cry. "She's put all her hopes on me, Sonic...pinned her whole future on me...and I can't give her what she wants! I can't make her a mother...and it's so important to her!" He cried harder. "But I can't hurt her by breaking up with her, and I can't even begin to imagine how to explain this to her...and I can't imagine living without her. What am I supposed to do, Sonic?" In desperation - much as he had in younger years - he clung to his oldest friend. "What am I supposed to do?"

Sonic said nothing. There was nothing he could say, but he held Tails gently, offering what comfort he could. 


	3. The Truth

3. The Truth

Cream sighed as she cleaned up the shop. That morning, Tails had headed out, saying he needed a workout. She hated this. He just got back from being away from her, and the first thing he does the following morning is head out to be somewhere else, away from her. She was probably taking this wrong, bt she had been planning to make a really special breakfast to welcome him back, maybe talk him into heading out for the day, just the two of them. But she knew the look in his eyes when he said he needed a workout. There would be little point to even trying for a special dinner. Scrubbing a bit harder than she intended as she cleaned, she wiped breif tears from her eyes.

She couldn't keep going like this. As much as she loved him, she needed to know if they wanted the same thing out of their relationship, if he felt the same way about her as she did about him. Even if it hurt...when he got back from his workout, she would confront him and demand an answer. Three years of her life she had dedicated to him and him alone...she needed to know if it had all been a waste.

A strange noise came from the power station one floor down. Cream frowned. The power station had only made a quiet hum ever since Tails had built it two years ago, so their work didn't drain the local power grid. It had never made any other noise, but now there was a strange sparking noise coming from it. This was worrying, as the power station ran on a artificial chaos core, and - since it was stabalized - should have provided a continuous flow of energy without error for 50 years. If it were destabalizing...that could be catastrophic. Grabbing her wrench, she went to investigate. As she headed down the stairs, the lights flickered. She began to run. The lights would only flicker like that if something was draining the power.

As she passed by the hanger, she could see that nearly all the lights were out, including in most of the ships. Also, something had thrown Tails pod across the room, slamming it against the wall, leaving an imprint high against the wall. She ran faster, pausing at the arsenal to pick up something a little more potent then her wrench.

When she reached the power station, she leveled her gun, aiming forward. The lights were out, so she couldn't see what was happening. "I know you're in there," she said firmly. "Show yourself, before I light you up!" The lights came on.

Floating over the power station was a strange energy being, facing away from Cream with its hands on the power station, energy bleeding into it. From the colors shifting through it, it had already drained energy from several sources of chaos energy, and was still drawing power. Finally, the chaos core went dead, amd the only light came from the being itself. Cream took aim and fired.

The shot impacted into the creature's back...and was absorbed into it. The creature turned.

The face of the creature seemed to be that of a monkey, but old and wrinkled. The entire creature was the face and two disconnected hands, and as it approached her, Cream saw it was much larger than she had thought. Suddenly, it's hands thrust forward towards her.

She screamed in fear, trying to run.

0000000000000000

Tails suddenly shot to his feet in the holo lab. "CREAM!" he shouted, running for the door.

Sonic leapt to his feet, running after him. "Tails, wait!"

Outside, Tails stared at where his lab had been a moment ago. Rising from the ground was a giant monkey head, roaring in fury. Two giant hands floated to either side of the head, and floating over one of the hands...was a pink crystal, with Cream trapped inside.

"CREAM!" Tails shouted, running forward.

Sonic ran to keep up, surprised to discover that Tails actually beat him to the ruin of his lab. Tails was racing through the ruin, heading straight for the hanger. Following, Sonic heard Tails cursing.

"That thing drained everything! None of my spaceworthy ships have any power now! I can't go after her!" Tails stared up at the retreating monkey head. "No...Cream..." He started to cry. "I've lost her...just like I lost Cosmo..."

Sonic shook Tails. "Come on, Tails! Don't give up! There's gotta be something you have! You're always prepared for everything!"

Tails slowly stood. "Maybe...there's one thing, but...it's untested." His eyes hardened. "Let's hope it works." Running to the back of the hanger, he kicked open the elevator doors and leapt down the shaft, hovering with his tails, since without power the elevator didn't work.

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Cream stared out of the crystal at the retreating world, Mobius, her home. She could only pray, as the creature that had captured her floated into space, that this would not be the last time she saw it. She looked up as the creature that had captured her suddenly snarled, staring into space angrily.

A strange portal opened, and a small ship came through. It was a thin ship, a gray cockpit with blue wings. Emblazoned on its side was the same fox logo as had been on Tails pod. It immediately began to fire on the creature that held her captive.

She could tell by the way her captor moved its lips that there was communication between it and the attacking ship, but she couldn't hear it. Suddenly, the crystal she was captive in floated up and attatched to the creature's forehead. When the next shot impacted against the creature, pain lanced through Cream's body, and she screamed.

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"Cream!" Tails dropped down the shaft, grabbing hold of a set of doors as he passed them. He didn't know how he knew, but Cream was in danger, and he was going too slow. Pulling the doors open, he pulled himself through. He heard Sonic come in behind him...and gasp.

"Tails! What the hell is that?"

The ship was only a little larger than the Tornado, the cockpit big enough to sit one comfortably, two tightly. The entire ship swept back and spread out, the exterior a glittering quicksilver, and light seemed to shift as it hit the hull. The engines in back looked big enough to propel it to the end of the universe without stopping.

Tails ran to the front. "The ship's experimental...my masterpiece. I didn't want to fly it until it was perfect, but..." Into a compartment that dropped down, he loaded the seven chaos emeralds. As they settled into the slots, they glowed with power, and began to lift into the ship. Tails hopped up, going for the cockpit. "...Cream is too important to wait."

As he sat in the seat, safety belts automatically stretched across his body, fixing him in the seat. "ZEPHYR!" he shouted, grabbing the controls.

The screen in front of him came to life, a smiling cat face emoticon appearing. "Online!" came the computerized voice.

"LAUNCH!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, pushing the controls forward.

Sonic staggered back as the engines booted up and the entire ship's exterior hull reconfigued, becoming sharper, more streamlined to escape the atmospheric envelope. The ship launched forward, through a long tunnel, diving down through an underwater cave and out into the ocean before breaching the surface. It then shot towards space at nearly double escape velocity, leaving a massive sonic boom in its wake that sent a massive wave rushing out to sea.

As he approached the scene of the space battle, he saw what was happening. The strange ship was firing on the monkey head entity, and evading its counter attacks. Just then, another shot hit the creature. Tails heard Cream scream.

"CREAM!" He turned to the computer of his ship. "Open a channel to that ship, NOW!"

"Roger!" There was a brief bout of static. "Connection established!"

"Attention unidentified ship!" Tails said into the comms. "You are to stand down immediately!"

An older voice responded. "No can do. Don't know who you are, but this isn't your concern, so-"

"YOU STAND DOWN RIGHT THIS INSTANT OR I'LL DESTROY YOU MYSELF!" Tails shouted at the top of his voice. "You're hurting Cream! You fire one more shot and there won't be enough of you or your ship left to fill a thimble!"

"What?" The ship immediately pulled back.

There was a laugh over the commlink. "See, Fox? I knew you followed me here. I knew you would hunt me down. So I prepared. You aren't going to destroy me...if it would cost the life of an innocent bystander!"

There was a growl from the first speaker. "Andross!" he snarled. "You are dead! You here me?"

"And how will you do that? You don't dare shoot me-"

Tails' craft - Zephyr - shot forward at his mental command. The energy creature - Andross, apparently - attempted to shoot at the craft, but it easily evaded each shot, side slipping or barrel rolling out of the way, at one point completely shifting the position of one wing out of the way of a shot.

"What sort of craft is that?" Andross demanded as he continued to fire.

Tails snarled. "Your executioner!" he said. He pulled a lever in the ship.

The entire craft suddenly contorted, transforming into a robot mode, like all Tails' one man crafts did. The wings split, swinging out and forward into arms and legs, with hands on the ends of the arms. The cockpit flipped upward, pointing straight up, giving the whole thing the look of a five pointed star. The engines attatched to the back, and flared brightly. The robot/fighter blazed forward to impact against Andross' forehead. Seizing the crystal Cream was trappped in, it pulled back.

An energy shock went through the crystal, and Cream screamed in pain. Andross laughed. "You cannot remove the crystal! Any attempt will cause her intense pain!" He began to laugh again.

The ship contorted again, the cockpit shifting onto the right arm, which pulled back..and slammed into the crystal, breaking through. As the air in the crystal began to be sucked out, the ship's cockpit opened. Tails grabbed Cream and pulled her into his lap. The cockpit sealed and returned to the head position, replenishing air supply.

"Impossible!" Andross cried as the ship pulled away.

The other craft began to move in to attack, but Zephyr got in the way. The chest compartment opened, revealing the seven Chaos Emeralds, glittering brightly.

"You wanted this power!" Tails snarled over the comm at Andross. "Take it!"

A huge blast of chaos energy erupted from the Emeralds, tearing through Andross and ripping him apart. Andross screamed in pain and fury.

As the destruction ended, a last message came over the comms. "I'll get you yet, Fox McCloud! This is not the end! You and your new friend have not seen the last of me! I will return!" The message dissolved into static.

Tails turned Zephyr around. "Back to Mobius," he said, holding Cream tight.

"Roger!" the ship's computer replied. "Switching to auto-pilot. Would you like to listen to some music while we fly? Easy listening? Smooth Jazz? The Best of Barry White?"

"Not the time," he mumbled, but he could feel Cream manage a chuckle. As the ship headed for Mobius, he whispered, "I was afraid I'd lost you..."

Cream blinked away tears. Did that mean...no. She couldn't take this as an answer. Extreme situations were never a good barometer to judge by.

As the ship landed, it contorted back into it's original shape, settling down gently on the ground as it extended protrusions from the hull as landing gear. Sonic was there waiting, as was everyone else: Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Vanilla...and Cheese, who did not look happy that he hadn't been with Cream when she needed him.

The cockpit opened, and Tails climbed out carefully, carrying Cream. There were cheers, but he obviously wasn't paying attention. Once he got to the ground, he set her down on her feet, and just held her fiercely, as though afraid to let her go.

The other craft set down gently nearby, and the pilot leapt out. It was an older male fox, looked to be in his mid 40s, but still full of energy, although there was sadness in his eyes. Rouge, turning to examine the new arrival, noticed that he rather closely resembled Tails, although his coloring was slightly darker.

"Thanks for the assist there," he said, approaching Tails. "Sorry about earlier, didn't know he had a captive. I'm Fox McCloud. I have to say, that is one impressive ship..." He held out his hand to shake Tails' hand, awaiting an introduction.

When Tails turned to face him, Fox stepped back in shock. His eyes flicked from Tails face to his tails and then back to his face. "...Miles?" he asked, desperation in his voice.

Now it was Tails turn to take a step back. "How...how do you know my name? Do you know who I am? Where I come from?"

Fox McCloud suddenly stepped forward, pulling Tails into a fierce embrace. "Miles, it's me," he said, tears falling from his eyes. "It's Dad." 


	4. Going Home

4. Going Home

"Tails?" Cream asked as everyone made their way into the Blue Typhoon, Tails' space cruiser. "Are you sure this is for real? I...I don't want to discourage you, but...the day after you find out you're from another planet, your father shows up from outer space? Doesn't that seem a bit much of a coincidence? Are you sure it's him?"

Tails smiled at Cream. "When he first said who he was, my thoughts were the same as yours. I was going to step back, push him away."

"But you didn't," Cream replied. "You hugged him back."

"That's because there was one detail that I knew was real."

"Which one?"

Tails tapped the side of his nose. "I remembered his scent. When I smelled him, it brought back memories: his scent, my mother's, a few others...and some brief flashes of visual memory to go with it. He is my father, of that there is no doubt." Tails smirked. "Besides, I had my wrist computer run a quick genetic comparison. Half my genetic code matches half of his exactly, except for the mutation that gave me two tails." He shook his head. "Besides, even beyond what my senses and tech tell me...I just know."

"You...know? How?"

"...the same way I knew you were in trouble when Andross attacked you, despite being more than a mile away. I don't know how I knew...I just knew."

Fox chuckled knowingly. "Looks like you inherited some of your Mom's gifts after all, Miles."

Tails turned as everyone sat down in a lounge area. "What do you mean...Dad?" He smiled as he said the last word. It felt good to be able to say that, to know his family.

Fox smirked. "Krystal - your Mom - is a rather strong psychic, and also has some ability with mysticism. Your sensing things with no logical explanation, but with absolute certainty...from what she's told me, that's how her abilities first started to manifest, as well."

Tails blinked. "I'm psychic?"

Sonic turned to him. "What am I thinking about right now?"

"Chili dogs and Amy," Tails said without hesitation. "I don't have to be psychic to guess that." That got a laugh from everyone. Tails then turned back to Fox. "So...what's Mom like?"

Fox grinned. "Why bother asking? I can tell you a few stories...but wouldn't you rather fly out and meet her yourself? It's a ways out there - this world isn't even in the same galaxy as the Lylat system - but it only took me three months through the wormholes to get here, and that's with stops to refuel, resupply, and sleep."

Tails grinned. "I checked the engines on your ship-"

"Arwing," Fox corrected with a smile.

"-and once the Blue Typhoon is fully recharged, it can go more than 10 times as fast. With luck, we'll be there within the week." Tails grinned. "Once the Chaos Emeralds are loaded into the core, we're good to go."

Knuckles spoke up. "How about I go get the Master Emerald and load it in, too? That should make the ship even faster, right?"

"Thanks, Knuckles!"

Cream sat back, sighing. Tails was going to go off again. She couldn't really begrudge him, he was going to meet his family, find out who he was, where he came from. But...she couldn't shake the feeling that, if he left...he'd never come back. That this would be goodbye...forever.

She was shaken out of her reverie as Tails addressed the group. "So can everyone take the time to come with? I'd really like you all to be with me." While he addressed everyone, his eyes found their way to Cream.

Cream smiled up at him. "I'll go," she said happily.

"I'm not about to let my daughter go on ANOTHER possibly dangerous space voyage without me," Vanilla spoke up.

Shadow smiled. "In that case, I have to come along. We have plans during the next week, after all."

Sonic grinned. "I'm in! This is your big moment, learning the full truth about yourself. Think I'm not gonna be with you for it?"

Amy pulled out her PDA. "Hmm...well, I don't have any appointments scheduled for the next month, and I was planning on taking a vacation, anyway..." She grinned at Tails. "With your penchant for trouble, you need SOMEBODY with medical training."

Knuckles smirked good naturedly. "Think I'd have offered to load up the Master Emerald if I wasn't planning on coming?"

Rouge smiled a trifle wickedly. "Just think, I may be the first Mobian to get a chance to own a gemstone from another galaxy! Did you really think I'd pass that up?" Rouge's passion for jewels certainly hadn't faded with time.

Tails smiled. "Looks like we're all coming. Good thing the Blue Typhoon is fully stocked!"

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As everything was being loaded onto the ship, Tails and Cream were giving Fox a grand tour of it. He was suitably impressed.

"Wow, Miles...I'm amazed at what you've been able to make here, especially with the relatively primitive level of technology available." Fox had made no secret of the fact that the Lylat system was technologically more advanced than Mobius. He shook his head. "Then again, I shouldn't be. Mechanics has been your nature since before the cradle."

"What do you mean?" Cream asked.

Fox chuckled. "It's a tradition of Krystal's people: when a child is three days old, a variety of objects is set before them, representing different disciplines. According to tradition, the object the child first reaches for will represent his or her strongest skill set." He smiled indulgently. "Practically before we'd put Miles on the floor, he was reaching for the wrench. Krystal said that was a sure sign he'd spend the rest of his life fixing things." He looked proudly at Tails. "You said your first word right after that, son."

"What did I say?" Tails asked.

"You said 'Fix!' and swung the wrench...wacking me solidly between the legs!" He and Tails winced as Cream tried to stifle laughter. Fox chuckled then. "Your mother said - once she managed to stop laughing - that you must not want any brothers or sisters." They all laughed at that.

After the laughing died down, Tails asked a question that had been preying on his mind for a while. "Dad...how did I get lost? And why did it take so long for you to find me?"

Fox sighed sadly. "It...it was my fault. You showed such a passion for the ships and the Arwings, always trying to sneak into my cockpit when I was heading out on a mission...I commissioned your pod, and connected it to the underside of my Arwing for a routine scouting mission, so you could see what it was like flying through space the way I did. You were not yet a year old, but you were so precosious and eager..."

He fell silent for a while, then continued. "It started out routine. I did a few quick turns and a couple of barrel rolls, enjoying your delighted laughter over the comms. Then...Andross attacked out of nowhere. We weren't prepared, and...a lucky shot from Andross hit the couplings, sending your pod careening away from my Arwing.

"It...it would have been a simple task to pick your pod up with a grappler or tractor beam, but...Andross was using some new energy type that caused space to warp, and...a shot hit your pod, sending it careening into what then became a black hole cluster. Space warped around you...and we lost all trace of your pods signal." Fox sank back into a chair. "It was my fault. Krystal tried to warn me, said she had a bad feeling, didn't want me taking you out there...but you were so eager, and it made you so happy..."

Tails hugged his father. "Dad...you couldn't have known. It's not your fault. And..." Tails smiled. "While my life's been hard, it has brought me great joy. Even growing up not knowing my parents, I've enjoyed my life, and..." His eyes flickered towards Cream. "I wouldn't trade what I've found in this life for anything." He hugged him tighter. "So please, stop crying."

Fox hugged his son back. "Thank you, son. It is good to know that you don't blame me for what happened." He stood up. "But you'll forgive me if it takes more than that to make me forgive myself...or to get your mother to forgive me."

Tails nodded knowingly, sighing.

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Up on the bridge, Tails worked the controls. "Is the course set?"

"Set and locked!" Cream said from the helm.

"Is the core fully charged?"

"Charged and ready?" Knuckles said from the engine room.

"Food supplies good to last?"

"Fully stocked with a good chunk of reserve," Rouge said from her station. "Plus, the hydroponics garden provides more than enough for air purification AND additional dietary staples."

"Medical ready?"

"Ready and waiting!" Amy said from the sick bay. "Just don't give me too much work if you don't have to, okay?"

"Weapons?"

"Primed and ready!" Shadow said from tactical. "All systems are green."

"Alright, then." Tails took hold of the controls. "Blue Typhoon...LAUNCH!"

The Blue Typhoon slowly took to the air and left the planet's gravity well. Following the programmed course, it aimed for the first wormhole and engaged its hyperlight engines.

They were on their way. 


End file.
